Treatment.—Give no active medicine. Apply the steaming nose-bag six times daily; allow cut grass and mashes for food, with gruel for drink. If weak, present three feeds of crushed and scalded oats and beans daily, with a pot of stout morning and evening. Good nursing, with pure air, warmth, and not even exercise, till the disease abates, are of more importance than "doctor's stuff" in a case of severe cold. Cold, however, often ushers in other and more dangerous diseases.
CONGESTION IN THE FIELD.
Cause.—Riding a horse after the hounds when out of condition.
Symptoms.—The horse, from exhaustion, reels and falls. The body is clammy cold; the breathing is labored; every vein is turgid.
Treatment.—Bleed, if possible; cover the body; lead gently to the nearest stable; keep hot rugs upon the animal; bandage the legs and hood the neck; warm the place, either by a fire or tubs full of hot water. Give, without noise, every half hour, one ounce of sulphuric ether, half an ounce of laudanum, half a pint of cold water. Should no chemist be at hand, beat up two ounces of turpentine with the yolk of an egg; mix it with half a pint of water, and repeat the dose at the times stated. Allow an ample bed, and place a pail of gruel within easy reach of the horse. Do not leave the animal for thirty hours, as in that time its fate will be decided.
CONGESTION IN THE STABLE.
Cause.—A debilitated, fat horse, unused to work, being driven fast with a heavy load behind it.
Symptoms.—Hanging head; food not glanced at; blowing; artery gorged and round; pulse feeble; cold and partial perspirations; feet cold; eye fixed; hearing lost; and the attitude motionless.
Treatment.—Give immediately two ounces each of sulphuric ether and of laudanum in a pint of cold water. Give the drink with every caution. In ten minutes repeat the medicine, if necessary. Wait twenty minutes, and give another drink, if requisite; more are seldom needed. Take away all solid food, and allow gruel for the remainder of the day.